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Re: [Pali] The New Pali Course Part III [49/120] gerund and gerundive.

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Bryan Levman

Hi Yong Peng and Nina, I ve been away in India for the last month and away from email. A future passive participle and a gerundive (also called a gerundivium

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, Jul 5, 2011

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Hi Yong Peng and Nina,

I've been away in India for the last month and away from email.

A future passive participle and a
gerundive (also called a gerundivium which is its Latin name) are the same thing - a "future passive participle" (another name for a gerundivium) which is a verbal adjective, with the meaning "to be [past
participle]" or "should be [past participle]", or "ought to be [past participle]."

In this case vandiyaa is a gerundive meaning "to be praised" ("ought to be praised" or "should be praised") modifying the Buddhaas; the Sanskrit equivalent is vandya ("to be praised"), so vandiyaa, with the extra epenthetic -i- must be an eastern form (which is
very common in Paali, e.g. ariya for ayya from Skt. arya.)

vanditabba is derived from Skt. vanditavya which also means to be praised and is also a future passive participle, gerundive, a verbal adjective modifying Tathaagataas.. In Skt. there are three principle endings which create a gerundive: -ya, -tavya and -aniiya,, all added to the root in its gu.na grade. Paali also has more than one form as is apparent.

All gerundives are passive. Gerunds are usually active (but can also be passive), but are always indeclinable. Since these gerundive forms (vandiyaa and vanditabbaa) are both in agreement with a noun (in nom. pl.) then one knows right away that they must be gerundives (verbal adjectives), not gerunds. The gerund form from the verb vandati is vanditvaa and it usu. means "having praised" and would generally take an object in the accusative.